It’s all about the goose
Between the end of October and mid-November everything is about eating St. Martin’s goose in the East of Austria. Since this time of the year is almost over again and I hadn’t had goose yet I decided to seize the opportunity and visit ef16 on last night of serving its goose menu.
The restaurant itself is located in Vienna’s city center, a bit hidden off Fleischmarkt. The arches of the place, dim lights, candles and white and bordeaux painted walls give it an incredibly warm, comfortable and intimate feel.
Food
We started the night with some bread, truffled butter and beetroot butter. Whereas the truffled butter was simply amazing due to its distinct truffle flavor with perfect intensity, the beet root butter didn’t taste of much besides a bit earthy. Also, the texture of the bread was too wet, so a few points deduction for that.
Next up was a goose broth with dumplings, root vegetables and pieces of goose. The soup was nice and creamy, the vegetables inside were cooked to the point and there was plenty of goose bits in the soup. A perfect (and rich) starter on a cold Sunday night!
As second course we had grilled goose liver on truffled risotto with grapes. While I’m usually not a liver-lover, this one left me in awe, because the liver was so tender and grilled to perfection. This was complemented by subtle sweetness from the grapes and an al dente risotto – very nice!
I have to admit that at this point I was already pretty full, because the risotto and the soup hadn’t been very light dishes. But since we were at ef16 to eat goose, we went on.
The main course consisted of breast and leg of goose with chestnuts, potato dumplings and red cabbage with apples. Hands down, this goose was the best I’ve had so far in terms of texture. The meat was tender, juicy and packed with flavors. My sister was especially fond of the dumplings and couldn’t stop eating them, because they were so fluffy. The red cabbage was great flavor-wise, but so rich that it felt like you would fall of your chair if you kept eating. Only the chestnuts could have been cooked through a bit more. Altogether a nice dish with spectacular goose meat.
Last but not least, we had a poppy seed soufflé with pear and vanilla for dessert. Wow. The hot soufflé had an amazing soft texture with intense poppy seed flavor which was nicely balanced with pear compote and red berries. It was the perfect end to a delicious menu.
Service & things good to know
Service was very attentive in the beginning and made sure our glasses were always filled. However, as the night proceeded and the restaurant filled up, the waiters passed by way less frequently. Also, it would have been nice if they had quickly explained what exactly it is we were eating.
Conclusion
The food was delicious, we got plenty of goose for our buck and the quality of the ingredients used was very high. Generally, they use lots of local ingredients at ef16 and will be able to tell you where the meat is from, which I personally like a lot.
The restaurant’s atmosphere is lovely, too. It’s a place where you sit down and immediately start to lean back and relax, which is great on a Sunday night. Also, the restaurant has a really nice ambiance with dimmed lights and candles, so it would also be a good location for a date.
I salute to everyone who manages to eat the whole 4 course menu. I almost fell off the my chair after eating the goose breast. However, this is not a place to go to if you’re on a diet, the dishes are very rich altogether. So plan in a nice walk through the city afterwards to digest 😉
Restaurant information
Address_ Fleischmarkt 16, 1010 Vienna
Opening hours_ Monday – Sunday 17:00 – 23:30
Price category_ EUR 15-25 for a main dish
Website_ http://www.ef16.at
Facebook_ @ef16restaurant
Instagram_ ef16restaurant
Phone_ +43 1 5132318
E-mail_ email@ef16.at
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